What's for dinner?

eas·y

 ˈēzē/

adjective  
achieved without great effort; presenting few difficulties.

adverb informal
without difficulty or effort.

Today everything needs to be quick and easy...easy mac n cheese, instant pudding, instant coffee (gross), easy to make recipes, easy bake or better yet, No-bake!

When did making a healthy, well-balanced meal for our families become so difficult?  Since when did making a salad become such hard work that I need to purchase a pre-made one and pay 5 times the amount that it would cost to prepare it myself.  Why don't we want to make any effort to prepare good, real food for our families?

I'm thankful for a mom that taught me not only to cook, bake, and shop, but also to understand the value in preparing meals in my home vs. eating out or serving packaged meals. Real food grows on farms, not in factories.  

From a very young age I learned about a grocery budget, how to menu plan, and how to cook.  I remember one summer my mom telling me that one day each week during summer vacation I would be responsible to plan and cook dinner for our family.  I went with her to the store where I learned how to read food labels, and price labels (how to get the best value).  I learned how to prep food, how to store food properly in the refrigerator, pantry or freezer.  I learned to shop mostly in the outside aisles of the grocery store for real food, not packaged meals.  I learned to look for what was on sale, and stock up on good deals.  Trust me when I say that nothing much gets me more excited then when I can find a really good deal on chicken, beef, pork or whatever I can freeze for later use!  I've been known to spend $100 or more on a really good deal on chicken breasts (.59 / lb)  

I work part-time, so I understand the frustration of getting home late and having to prepare dinner for my family of six.  Sometimes, I end up making eggs...or pancakes (which my kids love even more!)

Don't get the idea that every meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner is a perfectly well-rounded meal here, but I do put effort into making most of them good, real food.

On workdays, the Crockpot is one of my best friends, or there are meals that can be put together quickly with a little prep on the weekend.  Remember the chicken breasts?  Well I've been known to cook 12-18 at a time, cut or slice them up and freeze them for use on crazy, frantic nights!  

I'll admit that just like anything, you need to have the right tools to do the best job.  Sometimes, I don't have the right pan, or knife (let's be real, none of my knives are good), or even all the right ingredients.  However, with some effort or even a LOT of effort, I know that I can put a GOOD, BALANCED meal made with REAL food on the table and know that it is not just supplying empty calories to "fill them up", but nutrition that their growing bodies need.  

One of my most favorite tools of late is a menu-planning program.  I came across a blog, www.keeperofthehome.org/blog - one of the things that intrigued me right away was the section on REAL FOOD, and then of course MENU PLANNING.

I signed up!  It was free for a month - and I didn't have to worry about canceling before they would charge my credit card - they didn't have my cc number.  After only two weeks of using their PlanTo Eat menu-planning program, I was hooked!  

                       

Not only could I plan out my menus, but also I could share recipes with friends, and a grocery list was created from my recipes I chose.  I can copy/paste recipes from other sites into my recipe book.  I can edit recipes to fit my needs, and it keeps track of how often I make each recipe.  No - I'm not getting any commission or a free anything for telling you about this.  I simply want to help other women get back to making good, healthy, real food for their families.  This is a tool that has helped me.  If you decide to join, my username is Torok6.  Let's be friends.  Let's share recipes!

Yes, I'm tempted to tell you how easy this is.  Menu Planning is the easy part - making the meals takes effort and time.  But I know how important it is, and because I care about my family's health I make the effort.  That's it...

Oh!  Almost forgot.  Here's a recipe for homemade granola bars...I made these today with minimal effort, really.  (I was folding laundry and vacuuming in-between steps)  

A good healthy snack, and way better for you than the store bought variety and a lot less expensive too!

Homemade Granola Bars

20 Min Prep

COOK40 Min

TOTAL1 Hr

Yields 12 bars originally 12 bars

This is a combination of two different Granola Recipes that sounded good to me. So I took the best parts of each of them and made these! Enjoy...

Ingredients

• 2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toss the oatmeal, almonds, seeds, coconut and wheat germ with spices in a 9X13 pan. bake for 12-15 minutes stirring occasionally until lightly browned. (you'll smell it!)
2. While thats baking, place butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in a small saucepan and heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.
3. Transfer oatmeal mixture to a large bowl. Pour honey mixture over. You can add dates, dried apricots, raisin, cranberries or any other dried fruit at this time.
4. Pour mixture onto a sheet pan with parchment. Press down evenly into pan. Lower temperature to 300. Bake fore 25-30 minutes, until light golden brown. Slices into bars or break into pieces when cool. i melted chocolate and drizzled on top...delish!